FLS Aerospace

Jun 28, 2021

25-06-2021 Matthew Dreads joined Marshall Centre's training school for a three-month course from FLS Aerospace to learn hand skills in the workshop with Keirron Mascall and Robin Lipscombe in 1998. “Marshall Centre and FLS Aerospace equipped me with the knowledge and understanding that has helped me progress throughout my career. The three-month experience in the workshop gave me a big step ahead as I can still identify materials and machinery that I was trained to worked with more than 20 years ago by Marshall Centre.” The cohort of seven was given tasks from building a cube out of solid blocks of metal to carrying out patch repairs on aircraft. Matthew described the apprenticeship like a family and remembered an amusing story about Robin. The apprentices were working in the workshop and Robin was giving an interview in one of the rooms with a big glass window, so they could all see him. As he was talking, he was flicking his pen and ink sprayed across his white shirt. To this day, none of the apprentices are sure if Robin knew what they were giggling about. The skills Matthew and his cohort learnt in the workshop were transferable in other industries. Matthew also worked on trains during his career and impressed his colleagues with his hand skills; he joked that his skills were ‘handy to have.’ From learning the basics of engineering through an apprenticeship scheme, Matthew has progressed from Technician, Production Engineer and management roles for high profile companies like Bombardier . He was involved in a merger that created a company called 1g dynamics in 2017, where he is Head of Business Development. Matthew’s vibration engineering company builds and services vibration equipment to simulate environmental condition and also has an environmental test house. “My cohort were really lucky for the level of training provided and we’ve excelled to reach our full potential, with 4 out of 7 apprentices successfully starting their own businesses. I’m really grateful for the time and effort spent to develop me into the engineer I am today.”